In this Book
- Disruption in Detroit: Autoworkers and the Elusive Postwar Boom
- Book
- 2018
- Published by: University of Illinois Press
- Series: The Working Class in American History
summary
It is a bedrock American belief: the 1950s were a golden age of prosperity for autoworkers. Flush with high wages and enjoying the benefits of generous union contracts, these workers became the backbone of a thriving blue-collar middle class. It is also a myth. Daniel J. Clark began by interviewing dozens of former autoworkers in the Detroit area and found a different story--one of economic insecurity caused by frequent layoffs, unrealized contract provisions, and indispensable second jobs. Disruption in Detroit is a vivid portrait of workers and an industry that experienced anything but stable prosperity. As Clark reveals, the myths--whether of rising incomes or hard-nosed union bargaining success--came later. In the 1950s, ordinary autoworkers, union leaders, and auto company executives recognized that although jobs in their industry paid high wages, they were far from steady and often impossible to find.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page, Copyright Page
- pp. i-vi
- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-xiv
- Introduction
- pp. 1-16
- 1. Shortages and Strikes, 1945–1948
- pp. 17-34
- 4. A Post–Korean War Boom, 1953
- pp. 72-89
- 6. The Fifties in One Year, 1955
- pp. 110-128
- 8. The Nadir, 1958
- pp. 147-165
- Conclusion
- pp. 179-184
- Selected Bibliography
- pp. 233-236
Additional Information
ISBN
9780252050756
Related ISBN(s)
9780252042010, 9780252083709
MARC Record
OCLC
1054093059
Pages
266
Launched on MUSE
2018-09-29
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2018